Lam Chi-Leung, Siu Bonnie W M, Yau Victor C K
The Medical Centre for Cognition and Emotion (HK), Hong Kong, China.
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Castle Peak Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2021 Sep 28;29(4):563-576. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2021.1956381. eCollection 2022.
Medical and legal professionals are increasingly involved in probate disputes in which the validity of a will due to a lack of testamentary capacity in older adults is frequently challenged. The legal test for testamentary capacity under common-law jurisdiction was established in the famous case of (1870). The High Court of Hong Kong recently issued new practice guidance for legal professionals on the preparation of a will for older adults. This paper discusses the dilemmas and competing issues among different parties on this medicolegal interface based on recent literature and local examples. We recommend a risk-based pragmatic framework for legal and medical professionals to minimise potential disputes in testamentary capacity assessment.
医学和法律专业人士越来越多地参与到遗嘱认证纠纷中，在这类纠纷中，由于老年人缺乏遗嘱能力而导致遗嘱有效性经常受到质疑。普通法管辖权下遗嘱能力的法律测试是在著名的（1870年）案件中确立的。香港高等法院最近就为老年人起草遗嘱向法律专业人士发布了新的实践指南。本文基于近期文献和本地实例，探讨了在这个法医学交叉领域中不同各方之间的困境和相互冲突的问题。我们为法律和医学专业人士推荐一个基于风险的务实框架，以尽量减少遗嘱能力评估中的潜在纠纷。
